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Nordrake
The Esparran town of Nordrake, northeast of Alvarose, is surrounded by a fifteen-foot-tall stone wall with guards perched strategically atop. Mayor Brilledille and her well-trained soldiers keep a watchful eye on any visitors. This is because Nordrake is very wealthy for its size. The mines beneath the town are rich with rare and valuable gems and metals. Poverty is unheard of here, but that makes this town an attractive target for thieves and swindlers. The Heroes of Fellrock are held in high regard in Nordrake, and Mars (as Echo the tiefling) has chosen to continue living here with Noah after The Battle at Fellrock. Notable Places Brilledille's Tower Reaching twice as high as the next tallest building, Brilledille is apparently the rare dwarf who doesn't mind heights. Her public office is the ground floor of this tower, and the basement level hides the town's holding cells. The second floor is for closed-door meetings with her soldiers, and the higher floors are her personal quarters. The top floor features a complete balcony where she can watch over her town and the nearby forests. Her tower stands in the precise center of town. The Mines Visitors are seldom invited into the mines, and must be watched closely at all times if they are. For this reason, not much is known about the operation outside of Nordrake's population. What is known is that even town guards must take shifts in the mines to pull their weight, and keep in shape. After a big find, all workers are rewarded for their efforts- not just those who found the goods. It is known that Nordrake has a relationship with Under-Nordrake, but the details are kept among the guards and mayor. Noah’s Nook (General store) Elderly blue dragonborn Noah runs this general store. Noah is clumsy, as evidenced by her missing fingers. Her prices are fair and her goods are as expected. She took a liking to the party, especially Walnut and then later Mars (as Fern). She is very interested in visiting the nearby hot spring to soothe her old bones. In the week leading up to The Battle at Fellrock, Mars (as Fern) spent most of her waking hours with Noah. They would share tea and stories, and Noah took a personal interest in Fern's work- although she didn't quite understand what she was helping with. After the battle Mars moved in with Noah, revealing her ability to shift and taking the form of Echo. They've become close friends, and visit the hot springs together often. Noah revealed to Mars that she was once an adventurer herself. Splish Slash (Weapon store) Handsome triton Splish runs Nordrake's weapon shop. Splish is young and wears his green hair long- almost to his knees. His prices are a bit high, but he does have some unique goods. His prized possession is his Trident of Return, which, in addition to being magic, automatically returns to its wielder's hand after being thrown. Rare goods: Silver Greataxe - 66G, Silver Greatsword - 77G, +2 Trident of Returning - 100G Eastyn Armor (Armor store) Eastyn is a human who appears to be almost sickly thin. Fidgety and serious, they tend to make visits to their shop feel a bit rushed. Eastyn has one rare piece. Rare goods: Black Diamond Shield (50% chance to neutralize a crit) - 65G Poetry’s Potions (Magic shop) Her jutting chin nearly as sharp as her horns, tiefling Poetry sells basic potions and Spell Stones in her magic shop. She's a proud woman, and is apparently proud of her good as well. Fire Stone * (sets fire to desired flammable object upon contact) 15G Voice Stone ** (voice is 5x louder for 1 minute) 22G See Invisibility Stone *** (see invisible things) 90G The Scrub Pub (Tavern) The dinky, hole-in-the-wall tavern of Nordrake where new acts must perform. Popular acts include a half-orc randomly slapping a bongo and listing the dragons he's supposedly killed, a young human boy playing with dolls and asking the crowd to "please hush," and Walnut's absolute worst show ever. It was so bad that it had to have been intentional- and thus brilliant art! A talent scout saw the show and set him up to play The Gleaming Gemstone. The Gleaming Gemstone (Tavern) The nice tavern in town, obviously. The Great Grim performs here most nights, but occasionally touring acts will take the stage. The Thursday before The Battle at Fellrock this tavern was used by Brilledille, Vance, and others to deliver rousing speeches to the troops preparing for battle. Basically, any act worth its salt will perform here when in Nordrake, rather than The Scrub Pub. Notable People Brilledille Like Captain Tydrom in Bristol, Brilledille is a proud dwarf who serves as both her town's guard captain and mayor. She is suspicious of all visitors due to her town's wealth of small and valuable potential loot. This is seemingly necessary, as she has prevented or intercepted many attempted heists in her days. She is considered a brilliant tactician on the field of battle. Her black, shiny armor is said to be impenetrable, and she wields a battleaxe and shield in battle. She was one of the big powers in The Battle at Fellrock, notably dealing several blows to Relzrureos himself. Zumbo An elderly (and possibly deranged) half-elf who claims to be a scientist. With one ear twice as long as the other and eyes ensnared in dark rings from late nights, Zumbo certainly looks the part of a mad scientist. He is known around town for his odd potions, and of course his even odder mannerisms. The Heroes of Fellrock did collect a live specimen for Zumbo, which resulted in the revelation that the parasites cannot heal without sunlight. "The Great Grim" A short, male tiefling performer who frequents The Gleaming Gemstone. He wears heavy makeup and has his hair dyed a brilliant gold. He is an acrobat and musician, and is able to cast some simple illusion spells to amplify his performance. He and Walnut had a bit of an adversarial relationship, which lead to some memorable hijinks. The two clashed on the final night before The Battle at Fellrock, but no one can recall exactly how things turned out. Brywennis, Aloro, and Gilthur (latter two deceased) A tall, beautiful, androgynous elf, a dense female half-elf, and a grouchy male dwarf respectively, this trio of Nordrake soldiers were befriended by Enra during her training. Bry and Aloro were eager to take Enra under their wings, although Gilthur figured she would be lazy and entitled at first. She eventually won him over, very nearly defeating him one-on-one using none of her druidic abilities. These three soldiers were part of The Battle at Fellrock, where Aloro and Gilthur gave their lives. Important Events Over the course of a few days the party was able to convince mayor Brilledille to offer support in the final fight with Relzrureos. The relationship was very rocky at first, since the party struggled to answer the simple question "why have you come to Nordrake" for quite some time. Eventually a Truth Stone was used and the party was forthcoming with everything they knew related to the inevitable final fight in Fellrock. Brilledille sent two of her guards to gauge the situation, but they never returned. This placed suspicion on the party, who, aside from Mars (as Fern), had also not returned to town. Finally, Captain Tydrom reached out to the party via Sending Stone, and was able to verify all of their claims to Brilledille. After Tydrom set everything straight, the party was given free room and board for the week leading up to The Battle at Fellrock. (It seemed to help that he and Brilledille had a flirty relationship.) Enra chose to train with the town guards for that week, befriending a couple of them quickly and slowly earning the respect of another. She even worked a day in the mines, as all soldiers of Nordrake must. Mars spent her time making hundreds of fliers to spread the use of the term "the Vavith" to describe the parasitic infection. Walnut played several shows at The Gleaming Gemstone, competing with The Great Grim. His last show was apparently so insane that no one quite remembers it. Ivan spent this week working on the armor quest from the town bulletin board. Town Bulletin Board ✔ Live Parasite Wanted! "Crazy? Sure! You know ol Zumbo. I want one of these parasite creatures to study. The guards gave me a dead one, and I’ve got some ideas, but I need a less dead one. Contain it responsibly and bring it my way. I’ll give you some potions in exchange, and hell, ya just might save the world!" The Heroes of Fellrock completed this quest in the week preceding The Battle at Fellrock. While in the forest they were ambushed by a buffotaur. They managed to pry the parasite off before it was killed and wrap it in a large cloth, after removing it's piercing tendril. Zumbo awarded the party with several unique potions in exchange for the sample. In the following days he figured out that the parasites require light to regenerate, and even go dormant after being in darkness for a while. ✔ Where has my Wife Gone? "Please provide any information you might have. My wife Theryn went off into the forest to collect flowers, as she has countless times, and never returned. -Leokas" (there is a very good sketch of her- curly brown hair, brown eyes, a pointed chin and widow’s peak, rather pretty) "Edit: She left flowers at my door. Surely it was her- it was the same bouquet she made for our daughter’s wedding- to the T. I’ll pay anything for her safe return." The party, while attempting to find either a live parasite for Zumbo or the sasquatch for the quest below, found Theryn. They learned that she was bitten by a boar, and has contracted a form of lycanthropy. Her father was a shifter- a race from another continent- and she believes this has affected the normal rules of lycanthropy, since she seems to be stuck in her wereboar form. She was mostly calm until a cave bear wondered up on her and the party, smelling some fish that Ivan had caught. Theryn's feral instincts took over, and she maimed the bear to death. She then turned on the party. Ivan and Enra were able to subdue her, but not before Walnut was gored by one of her tusks. Per the rules of lycanthropy that Mars (as Fern) read about back in town, this means that Walnut will shortly begin to turn as well. The party originally planned to travel to the big city of Alvarose in hopes of finding a cure, but after speaking with Tydrom via their Sending Stones decided to await Vance's arrival in Nordrake. When he arrived he cured both Theryn and Walnut, and the party returned Theryn to her husband. He insisted on paying them despite their protests. ⛶ Missing Emeralds/Gold "A handful of emeralds and gold blocks from our third Autumn haul have disappeared. If you have any information that leads to the arrest of the responsible party, you will be rewarded handsomely. If you are the perpetrator, you may greatly reduce your sentence by coming forth. -Brilledille" The party has not yet taken on this quest. ⛶ Mysterious Dungeon Beneath my Inn! "You read right! The Stonewall Inn has an ancient, mysterious dungeon beneath it! Hidden for years behind a bookshelf, I only recently found the entrance. Buy three nights’ rent and I’ll take you in on the third night.. if you dare! The first two nights will be spent reading up on the lore surrounding the dungeon, and basic survival training. -25 gold for the whole package" The party has not yet taken on this "quest." ✘ Mutant Bugbear? Sasquatch? Creature seen around town! "Not just anyone, but town guards themselves have seen the beast. And not just one, but two! It’s ten feet tall, covered in long, wavy, dark hair, and moves in a hasty crouch. This thing is probably dangerous. Let’s track it down and then put it down. 10 gold per helper per night. 20 extra if we kill it. I keep the thing. -Idazana" This quest will not be completed, since the party has found the mysterious creature to be Theryn. ✔ Basic Armor Repair Needed "I’m no smithy and I’m no fighter, but I need a basic armor repair done. The armor was my grandfather’s and it’s falling apart. Doesn’t need to be battle-ready, just nice looking!" (apparently forgot to put his name) Ivan took on this quest, spending the week leading up to The Battle at Fellrock working on this armor. The armor was discovered to be the work of the legendary Jennsora of Ulfgar. After a few days of work, guards approached Ivan, accusing him of having stolen the armor. It all turned out to be an elaborate plot to steal and smuggle armor made by Jennsora, and a Bristol guard currently stationed in Nordrake was even found to be involved. Ivan busted the smugglers and prepared to travel back home to Ulfgar after the final fight with Relzrureos was complete. Relationship with The Heroes of Fellrock The Heroes of Fellrock struggled at first to make a good impression on the guards of Nordrake. When prompted to explain why they had come, they began to discuss their motivation aloud- not agreeing on why they had come. The guards called Brilledille to the gate. Intrigued if nothing else, she brought the party to her tower. After a couple days of suspicion, the party did finally prove their interest in helping Tydrom and the others in the fight against Relzrureos. The party was given free room and board leading up to the battle, and are always welcome back after it.